World Table Tennis (ITTF)

World Table Tennis, stylized as WTT, is an organization created by the ITTF in 2019 that runs commercialized table tennis tournaments.^[1] Its inaugural tournament was held in November 2020 in Macao. It is distinguished from the predecessor ITTF World Tour by various rules changes and big prize money for commercialized purposes.^[2][3][4] The head of its council is Liu Guoliang, a former Olympic gold medalist and former head coach of China.^[2] The WTT is headquartered in Singapore, with other offices in China, Europe, and the US.

Background

In 1926, the ITTF was founded by William Henry Lawes of Wymondham and Ivor Montagu^[5]. The nine founding members were Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales. The first international tournament was held in January 1926 in Berlin, and the first World Table Tennis Championships was held in December 1926 in London.^[6] It was the only event for over 50 years that was run and managed commercially by the ITTF.

In 1980, the ITTF World Cups was introduced, followed by the ITTF World Tour in 1996. Until 2003, commercial rights for these events were passed on to the local organising committees (LOC) but a different approach was taken to centralise rights through the creation of TMS.^{[clarification needed]} TMS was tasked to manage these rights on behalf of ITTF, until 2017 when ITTF decided to buy back the rights to be taken in house.^[7]

In 2018, professional consultants Deloitte and Withers were engaged to assist with remodelling the way that the ITTF does business.^[8] Through full models and financial understanding of our events and other worldwide properties, ITTF sought to understand the untapped commercial potential of table tennis. One key finding led to the idea of separation between the management of the professional and institutional structures of table tennis.

On 30 May 2019, ITTF announced the idea of World Table Tennis (WTT),^[9] a new commercial vehicle for table tennis. To launch WTT, the ITTF executive committee appointed a selection panel. The panel included ITTF President Thomas Weikert, ITTF Deputy President Khalil Al-Mohannadi, ITTF Executive Vice President for Finance Petra Sorling, ITTF CEO Steve Dainton, and ITTF Marketing Director Matthew Pound.^[8][10]

Recent hires

WTT also announced the hire of Philippe Le Floc’h, former Chief Commercial Officer at FIFA and marketing director at UEFA, as Senior Commercial Strategy Consultant, in line with WTT's aim to commercialise the sport.^[11][10] Shortly afterwards, Stephen Duckitt, who had 15 years of sports management experience, primarily with WTA and ATP, was announced as WTT Event Strategy Director.^[8]

On 29 June 2020, WTT announced that China Table Tennis Association President, Liu Guoliang had accepted the role as Chair of the WTT Council. The WTT Council is tasked to ensure the healthy development of WTT and to be at the helm of the future development of table tennis.^[12][13] WTT Macao was announced on 11 September 2020 to be held between 25 and 29 November 2020.^[14] The debut event was a promotional showcase featuring 16 of the world's best male and 16 of the world's best female players. The event implemented a brand new format with innovative scoring methods. It also featured a prize purse of US$800,000 with players paid a minimum of US$15,000, and earning more prize money per match they win.^[15][16]

Next to join was Melissa Soobratty. Announced on 4 December 2020, the former vice president, Media at Football Marketing Asia joined as WTT Senior Media Director to oversee all areas related to content, to further professionalise the organisation's expanding media operations.^[17]

WTT event structure

Grand Smash

The Grand Smashes will become the pillars of the sport and the most important events in the table tennis calendar. The events will feature both Men's and Women's singles draws with more players now receiving automatic entry into events. There will be fewer seeded players and a separate qualifying draw to ensure that the excitement kicks off right from the start. Doubles and Mixed Doubles events will also be played during the Grand Smashes.^[18][19]

Dates: Fixed dates on the annual WTT Calendar

Players: 64 Men's & Women's Singles, Doubles & Mixed doubles draw

Length of event: 10 Days + Qualification

Prize Pool: Up to US$3 million

Number of events: Up to 4

WTT Series

The WTT Series serves as the primary platform for professional table tennis players to compete at the international level. It is divided into three tiers — Cup Finals, Champion Series, and Contender Series — to provide athletes with sufficient competitive opportunities. WTT also focuses on hosting events in distinctive venues worldwide, such as theatres, bars, clubs, and stadiums, aiming to create engaging and intimate experiences that bring fans closer to the athletes.^[19][20]

WTT Finals

The WTT Finals are split into Men's and Women's events that will be held separately. The top 16 players of the year will qualify for this year-end event together with the best 8 pairs. Qualification will be determined by the player's performance throughout the WTT season and reflected through their Table Tennis World Ranking.

The first two editions of WTT Finals (2021 and 2022) was known as WTT Cup Finals. WTT stated that the winners of the WTT Cup Finals would win the prestigious ITTF World Cup trophies in March 2021, but the winners have been actually presented with WTT Finals specific trophies since the inaugural edition.

Players: 16 in Men's & Women's Singles, Top 8 pair in doubles

Length of event: 5 days

Prize Pool: Up to US$1.5million each

Number of events: 2

WTT Champions

The WTT Champion Series is exclusive to the top 32 men and women in the world. Four separate men's and women's event will be held with up to US$5million up for grabs. The matches will be played on one table to ensure that the best TV production and best entertainment is presented to fans.

Players: 32 Men's & Women's Singles

Length of event: 6 days

Prize Pool: Up to US$5million

Number of events: 4 men & 4 women

WTT Star Contenders

WTT Star Contenders will consist of 6 events throughout the year featuring 48 men and 48 women. These events will serve as the platform for the next best in the world to earn ranking points to make the step up into the WTT Champions Series.

Players: 48 Men's & Women's Singles

Length of event: 6 days + Qualification

Number of events: 6

WTT Contenders

Then the final tier, the WTT Contenders, allows the rest of the professional players throughout the world rankings to develop their talents in up to 14 events per year, each one lasting for four days.

Players: Flexible playing system

Length of event: Flexible playing system

Number of events: Up to 14 events

See also

• 2025 WTT Series
• 2022 WTT Series

Results Links

• https://tt-wiki.info/wttv-ranglistenturniere/
• https://tt-wiki.info/world-tour-grand-finals/
• https://tt-wiki.info/world-tour-turniere/
• https://tt-wiki.info/grand-smashes/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-cup-finals/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-champions/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-star-contenders/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-contenders/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-feeders/

References

1. ^ "Introducing WTT". Worldtabletennis.com
2. ^ "Table tennis requires change and innovation, says WTT Council Chair Liu". China Daily. 2020-12-01.
3. ^ Hopkins, Steve (2020-11-30). "WTT Macau Recap: Raising the $ Bar for the Sport". ButterflyOnline.com
4. ^ "Frequently Asked Question". WTT. 2020-06-11. Archived 2020-12-04 at the Wayback Machine.
5. ^ "About us - International Table Tennis Federation". International Table Tennis Federation. Archived 2024-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2026-02-09.
6. ^ "ITTF Archives". Archived 2011-03-01 at the Wayback Machine.
7. ^ "ITTF and TMS International end exclusive marketing agreement". ittf.com. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
8. ^ "A Message from the CEO I World Table Tennis Origins". Around The Rings
9. ^ "ITTF ready for revolution through World Table Tennis". ITTF.com. 29 May 2019.
10. ^ Carp, Sam (3 March 2020). "World Table Tennis plans include event revamp and double prize money". Sports Pro Media
11. ^ "Welcome to World Table Tennis!". www.gosports.com.my
12. ^ "China's table tennis chief Liu Guoliang named WTT Council head". Chinadaily. 29 June 2020.
13. ^ McCullagh, Kevin (29 June 2020). "Chinese table tennis president appointed to lead WTT Council". Sport business
14. ^ Hua, Xia (12 November 2020). "WTT tournament to debut in Macao in November". Xinhua Net
15. ^ "Table tennis' biggest stars to compete at WTT Macao 2020 presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group". Government Information Bureau of the Macao SAR. 19 November 2020.
16. ^ Hopkins, Steve (30 November 2020). "WTT Macau Recap: Raising the $ Bar for the Sport". Butterfly Online
17. ^ Cline, Warren. "Melissa Soobratty joins as WTT Senior Media Director". thesportyworld.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020.; Svenson, David (4 December 2020). "WTT appoints Soobratty to lead media rights strategy". Sports Business
18. ^ "Grand Smashes – everything you need to know!". Worldtabletennis.com
19. ^ Lee, David (4 March 2020). "Paddlers get bigger payout in new WTT format". Straits Times
20. ^ Houston, Michael (13 March 2020). "Bidding open for 2021 rebranded World Table Tennis events". www.insidethegames.biz